(One drop at a time.) My journal entries about offering copies of the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and other LDS church books, mainly to immigrants in their native language, mainly in Indianapolis, Indiana. With 106 translations, the Book of Mormon (along with the Bible) is a good "Rosetta Stone" for learning English or other languages, in addition to being a missionary tool.

My goals in keeping this blog/journal are: to encourage others to offer people copies of the Book
of Mormon and the Bible, to illustrate the incredible number of recent immigrants who are eager
for bilingual material, to illustrate the ease of encountering them and offering them material,
and to make known the wonderful deeds of the Lord (Ps 105:1, Isa 12:4) in arranging many of these
encounters. I realize that the concept of offering foreign language books to strangers is just
plain weird to many people, so here are some hints if you are intrigued by this and wish to try it.
Respectful comments and constructive criticism are invited.

The goal of the book placement effort is to provide, in a friendly non-threatening way, gospel
material to someone who is willing to receive it in their native language and English.

To the recipients of these books who read this: I thank you again for allowing me
to be of service to you. I encourage you to read the material, and pray to God that He
confirm the truth of it to you. The Bible and the Book of Mormon are both the Word of God.
Living according to their teachings brings happiness.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Missed opportunity. Wed, Dec 14, 2005.

12/14/2005. On my way home from a meeting on the other side of town, I stopped at a couple gas stations, one to buy a newspaper and another to buy some pop. I didn't see an opportunity at the first. But at the second there was an opportunity that I missed.

The cashier was a Spanish-speaking man with a kind and humble voice. He was very friendly to the customers. It occurred to me to offer him something, but I didn't have anything ready to say to a Spanish-speaker, so I just brushed off the idea. Afterwards, I felt guilty about it, so then I realized it was a genuine opportunity.

All of the DVD's I had in the car had a Spanish audio track, including the Joy to the World DVD featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

I need to go back to that part of town within a few days, so I'll try to remember to stop by there again. But the possibility of it being a permanently lost opportunity will hopefully give me more courage for similar opportunities in the future.